Japanese Leader Abe To Visit Anne Frank’s House

Ripped pages of three books of Anne Frank’s “Diary of Young Girl” are displayed at a library in Tokyo.

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to Amsterdam next week includes a nuclear-security summit, a Group of Seven meeting on the Ukrainian crisis and a possible summit with South Korea’s president. But his first order of business will be to visit the Anne Frank House.

Mr. Abe’s visit to the hideout where the teenage Holocaust victim wrote her diary comes after a disturbing string of vandalism incidents in the Tokyo area involving Holocaust-related books. Earlier this year, more than 300 Japanese copies of Anne Frank’s diary and related books were found to have their pages ripped out in at least 38 libraries and one bookstore in Tokyo and Yokohama.

Last week, Tokyo police arrested an unemployed Tokyo man, charging him with ripping the pages out of 25 books. The man has not been identified by the police. Police haven’t said whether he is a suspect in the other cases.

The diary is read widely by Japanese children and young adults, and the vandalism received international attention.

A foreign ministry official said Mr. Abe wanted to convey the message that many Japanese were hurt by the vandalism. Mr. Abe will be the first Japanese leader to visit the Anne Frank site, the official said, adding that the visit was not directly prompted by the vandalism.

“Humbly accepting historical facts and passing them on to future generations is one step towards realizing peace,” the foreign ministry said of the visit.

Mr. Abe has come under fire in South Korea, China and elsewhere over his view of history and comments by allies that questioned the basis for two-decade-old apologies by Japan over its actions in World War II. Last week, the prime minister said he would uphold those apologies, signaling he wanted to repair relations with South Korea ahead of a visit to East Asia next month by President Barack Obama.

Comments (4 of 4)

How can we trust the liar Abe and his Aide is going to extreme right direction that will lead the return of the evil imperial Japan army. Accomplishment of Abe in 2013:
1. Deny Tokyo Trial
2. Deny comfort women
3. Deny WWII war crimes
4. Changing constitution for imperail army return and bring back evil emperor to be head of States.
5. Openly admitted himself an extreme right member in US.
6. Increase military spending even under US protection.
7. Worshipped the ghostly WWII war criminals Shrine as an great insult to all WWII victims. There is no hero there.
8. Keeping the stolen islands that is not belong to Japan.
9. Changing school text and put incorrect history to school children.
10. Still not repent from WWII compare with Germany which is much much better than Japan.
11. Hiding the nuclear weapon materials which violates the constitution. Now return to US becasue under US pressure.
Abe: Honor to history but not to your WWII uncles.

3:05 pm March 26, 2014

Steve Jackman wrote:

On the same day that Abe was visiting the Anne Frank house, his compatriots back in Japan were carrying on another neo-nazi march waving Swastikas and the Japanese imperial flags through the streets of Tokyo. Here's the YouTube video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MMpGdOVzNzA

It would be much better for Abe to address such racism, hatred and xenophobia back home in Japan, and to pass laws against racial discrimination and hate speech.

5:15 pm March 21, 2014

Steve Jackman wrote:

Mr. Abe, enough with the empty gestures. How about passing some laws back home in Japan against racism, discrimination and hate speech? That would honor Anne Frank's memory much more than this PR stunt.

11:50 pm March 20, 2014

DL wrote:

How ironic. A war criminal worshipper visit the house of a victim of war criminals.

About Japan Real Time

Japan Real Time is a newsy, concise guide to what works, what doesn’t and why in the one-time poster child for Asian development, as it struggles to keep pace with faster-growing neighbors while competing with Europe for Michelin-rated restaurants. Drawing on the expertise of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires, the site provides an inside track on business, politics and lifestyle in Japan as it comes to terms with being overtaken by China as the world’s second-biggest economy. You can contact the editors at japanrealtime@wsj.com